Newcastle Labour has today announced proposals for a £50 million pound programme of city-wide highways investment.
Leader of Newcastle City Council, Cllr Karen Kilgour has confirmed that efforts are under way to secure tens of millions of pounds to deliver much-needed improvements to the city’s highways network.
The city council is responsible for around 1,646 miles of roads, footpaths and cycleways – the equivalent distance of over 125 Great North Runs.
In 2023/24 the council’s highways team fixed 18,179 potholes across the network, which is nearly 50 pothole repairs carried out every single day.
However, keeping on top of highways maintenance is an ongoing challenge and funding from government to carry out highways maintenance, while welcome, is never enough to cover all of the repairs required.
Cllr Kilgour says she has tasked officers to draw up plans to pump £50 million of investment into our highways network in the coming years.
But today Newcastle Labour has announced an initial £1 million of funding to start work on some of the worst affected roads in the city. Those include:
• A193 Shields Road – carriageway resurfacing
• A186 Station Road – carriageway resurfacing
• C110 Tyne View – carriageway resurfacing
• Regent Farm Road – carriageway resurfacing
• Dremsheugh Place – Footpath scheme
• A595 Scotswood Road – carriageway resurfacing
She says this funding will also be used to utilise new materials and techniques to ensure repairs last longer, ultimately saving the taxpayer money.
Cllr Kilgour said: “We know that our residents understandably find it frustrating, inconvenient and concerning when they see that their streets and pavements are damaged.
“It is a huge concern to us as well – and rest assured we do everything we can to deal with these problems.
“It is however an ongoing challenge to keep every street in the best possible condition, particularly given the limited resources we receive for this purpose.
“Naturally we tackle the most urgent repairs as a matter of priority, and our resources are appropriately directed to those areas where the need is greatest.
“We know though that this is not enough and that’s why we have an ambition to add tens of millions to our highways maintenance fund as part of our upcoming budget.
“This significant £50 million investment will not, on its own, be sufficient to tackle the repairs backlog that we are faced with due to many years of underfunding.
“We will of course continue to lobby government for greater financial support and funding for highways maintenance, in line with what our great city deserves.
“However, this investment will enable us to make a big difference to many of our neighbourhood streets, housing estates and key routes – which is something I know many residents are keen to see.
“With additional investment, we are not just seeking to patch up our roads and pavements. We are looking at innovative ways of working so that we can keep our streets in a better condition for longer.
“There will always be factors outside of our control – in particular the weather conditions during winter which causes much of the damage on our roads – so we are seeking to not only repair our highways, but also protect them against further damage.
“We are already looking to secure this additional investment to help deliver the quality of roads and pavements that our residents expect and deserve.
“And in the meantime I can reassure residents that our highways teams will continue to work tirelessly to carry out regular inspections and prioritise the most urgent repairs across our city’s neighbourhoods.”